An original, story-driven first-person role-playing experience. Take on the role of Consortium Bishop Six, a global peacekeeper in the year 2042, aboard the massive futuristic aircraft ZENLIL. You have an unprecedented amount of freedom to control how the story unfolds.

16. februar

The Escapist recently interviewed Gregory and Steve about Game Two of the iDGi-1 Trilogy, CONSORTIUM: The Tower Prophecy. They wrote up a nice article with our answers, and there is a never before seen bit of concept art included that's worth checking out!

MAC VERSION

We just want to let you all know that the Mac version is coming along very nicely now, and it is scheduled to be ready for release in April.

For those Mac gamers reading this, please let us know if you would like to be included in the upcoming beta testing of the Mac port of CONSORTIUM. We would deeply appreciate it! Email us at support@interdimensionalgames.com if you are interested...

HELPING SPREAD THE WORD: A CONTEST

So, there are two CONSORTIUM "Seeker Prophecy" T-Shirts ((front , back ) and one 26x48 inch poster ( "The Spirit of Consortium") (poster is signed by the CONSORTIUM development team - one of 30 that exist in total) -- that we would like to raffle off.

To have your name added to the raffle, please follow these simple rules:

Make at least one post on your social network of choice. Post must include a link to http://thetowerprophecy.com and/or the CONSORTIUM Steam store page. Ideally, both. :-)

Send an email to contest@interdimensionalgames.com with link(s) to your posts, tweet, etc. If you choose to use twitter, you must include @iDGi_1 in your tweet. If you post to your Facebook wall and the post is not public, a screenshot of the post will suffice for contest entry.

Multiple posts on different social networks will get your name added multiple times into the raffle. Note that multiple posts to the same network will NOT count.

All entries must be submitted on or before March 31st, 2015 to be considered for winning.

That's about it for now. Post any questions you may have about the contest.

11. januar

It’s been just a few days since the one year anniversary of CONSORTIUM launching on Steam, and we are proud to say that our game remains as unique and original as the day it launched! We felt an update was in order due to some important announcements about CONSORTIUM as we head into a brand new year, so let’s get down to it. First....

Please feel free to share that link far and wide across the internet! Currently the Tower Prophecy team is split into two parts: pre-production, which consists of writers and art, and those working on a crowdfunding pitch video.

Check out a recent post from Vidal Desertch (creator of the iDGi-1 satellite) regarding recent developments!

Finally, Please consider signing up for our Game Two mailing list in order to receive updates and have a chance to weigh in on our pitch video efforts before we go live on the campaign. Your feedback will be extremely critical for the final product.

V 1.22 is here

We have just released CONSORTIUM v1.22. Included with the patch are a huge list of fixes (big and small), game balance improvements and tweaks based on the last year of feedback. For a complete list of all new stuff and changes made in V1.22, scroll to the bottom HERE (Spoiler alert!).

We would like to extend a huge THANK-YOU to all players who went out of their way to tell us of issues and bugs on the Steam forums and through email, as this communication helped us immensely in making this patch happen.

Spanish Localization Released

Esto incluye el juego en español!

For a game with as much dialogue as ours this was a major endeavour, and we are happy to now welcome the Spanish gaming community to CONSORTIUM!

Please note, in order to localize the game beyond English we had to make some concessions to how the subtitles work. We plan on refining the system further in the near future, as it is obviously not ideal. Spanish players will still notice written English remaining in some parts of the game, but we made sure that all vital and important parts are fully translated (all player responses, direct NPC dialogue and 99% of the user interface). The only major exception is the Information Console, which is well beyond the scope of what we’re able to translate at this time. Next up, we are looking at translating the game into German, and possibly Polish as well.

Having Issues Running CONSORTIUM?

CONSORTIUM was recently part of a major RPG-themed sale on Humble Bundle, which brought a very large number of new players to the game. While this is of course an amazing thing, at the same time we have been fielding a large number of emails where people have been unable to run the game and/or are experiencing crashes. After investigating every single one, it seems a rather large number of them (90%+) have been due to running CONSORTIUM on systems that are far below minimum specifications (especially when it comes to the video card). If you are having issues with the game, PLEASE check the minimum specifications on the store page before anything else! If this checks out then we absolutely want to hear from you right away – please email support@interdimensionalgames.com as we personally investigate every case in an effort to determine what is going on.

That’s all for now, and as usual don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns or generally anything at all that may be on your mind.

Om dette spillet

Taking place entirely aboard a massive futuristic aircraft, CONSORTIUM is a first person science-fiction role-playing experience unlike any other. The story begins in our world - the "real world" - where we here at Interdimensional Games have developed a satellite (iDGi-1) capable of opening a digital rift through time and space...

Anyone with an internet connection can travel through this rift and awaken within an alternate dimension from our own - the "game world" - in the year 2042.

The first of a planned trilogy, Consortium contains a fully resolvable arc, but links to further games by a much larger story and its countless mysteries. Each subsequent title will act in this way, with both an internal story and a serialization that continues to build the alternate universe.

Immerse yourself in the interactive story of the C-3800-D "ZENLIL" Consortium Command vessel on December 21st, 2042...

Built with a modified version of the SOURCE engine, explore ZENLIL, a living and highly interactive environment with complete freedom and agency. Includes turbulence and non-scripted decompression events!

Engage with a cast of over 20 people in innovative and life like conversation. Over 4,000 lines of fully voiced dialogue, each choice changes how they think about you. Or choose not to engage with them at all and never speak a word!

Experience an all original orchestral score by award winning composer Jeremy Soule

Act as detective investigating an on-board murder, while simultaneously playing peacemaker to a large band of mercenaries who seem to want YOU dead. Or play diplomacy with a smoking barrel, and let the tragedies continue to mount.

Dive into a world with well over 150,000 words of back-story and lore, where everything you read, see, speak, or hear relates to the story and characters, and everything is there for a reason.

A highly original energy based inventory system with original sci-fi weapons, gadgets and armor.

The story unfolds based largely on your actions. You may use diplomacy and talk your way through the entire game - never shooting anyone! OR, decide to use deadly or non-lethal force.

Forge lasting relationships with the crew of ZENLIL, and alter the course of the story through your actions. Your choices will change your play experience, and subsequent playthroughs offer the chance to make different decisions and see all new outcomes.

Regardless of what you choose to do or not, the experience always moves forward, adapting seamlessly to YOU.

Systemkrav

Minimum:

OS: Windows Vista/7/8 32bit (NO XP SUPPORT)

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5GHz, AMD Athlon X2 64 2.7GHz

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 260 | AMD Radeon HD 4890 series

DirectX: Version 9.0c

Hard Drive: 7 GB available space

Additional Notes: Of the maximum 4GB of addressable memory space on a 32-bit system (2 ^ 32 = 4,294,967,296 bytes = 4GB), Windows reserves 2GB. This leaves any application (such as Consortium) with a maximum of 2GB to play with. During loading, Consortium can allocate up to 1.8GB worth of memory. If you are running Consortium with a 32 bit machine, be sure to close as many other simultaneously running programs as you can, otherwise "out of memory" crashes may occur.

Recommended:

OS: Windows 7/8 x64

Processor: Intel i3 2100T | AMD Phenom II x4 or higher

Memory: 4 GB RAM

Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 460 | AMD Radeon HD 5830 series or higher

DirectX: Version 9.0c

Hard Drive: 7 GB available space

CONSORTIUM and the CONSORTIUM logo are registered trademarks of Interdimensional Games Inc. All Rights Reserved.

An awsome game that reminds me of a good Star trek episode, and like star trek, this game's story feels like a first episode in a series with it's to be continued ending four hours in. In truth, this game alone is not worth the $20 asking price and should be bought on sale for around the basic price tag for a dlc. Around $10. Gameplay wise, with everything patched all I had to complain about is some subpar graphics, but this can be forgiven from a indie developer when everything else is this well done.

In short Good Story though short, Poor graphics, great soundtrack, great controls, but over priced.7.5/10

This game is a truly unique experience. It seems like an RPG and an FPS but in reality its neither and both at the same time! Its atmospheric, well conceived, extremely charismatic and has an immense replay value. Also you get to witness the consequences for your branching actions fairly soon. Now the game is not perfect, particularly its extremely short that would be my biggest complain, its just criminal to show me this amazing product and not be able to enjoy more of it! Inventory system seems vastly redundant, same goes for some other things, like energy conversion. The NPCs in this game are extremely believable and charismatic. Each with their own 'thing' going for them. Particularly the slavic hobo! The man is oozing confident demeanour while being interesting all around. The action elements in the game are interestingly done, - the plane shootout was incredible fun, but was cut short quick, while ground combat seemed to need more polish.Overall its an incredibly solid 8.5 it would easily be 10 had it a bit more content to explore and if the ground combat was ...better. VERY RECOMMENDED. Eagerly awaiting part 2 of this masterpiece.

I read about this game before it launched and the idea was intriguing so I added it to my wishlist. A few months later I noticed it was part of Groupies Be Mine 14 Bundle so I paid $5 and picked it up.

For the next few months CONSORTIUM languished in my game queue until last week when I finally decided to dive in--and dive into another reality I did!

CONSORTIUM's story kept me guessing until the end. In fact, I need to replay the game or parts of it to unlock sections of the story I didn't find during my first play-through.

And the ending... Holy crap! When is CONSORTIUM 2 coming out? I want to play it right now!

Before I started my play-through I read about CONSORTIUM's rough launch and all the bugs people encountered but, after 12+ hours of playtime I have yet to encounter a single problem; it looks like just about everything was fixed.

Even though CONSORTIUM doesn't have state-of-the-art graphics I can't help but think the game is beautiful. The character models' cartoony style is perfect and they don't detract from the story, voice acting or gameplay.

I appreciate that Interdimensional Games Inc. focused on the more meaningful parts of the game, e.g: story, mechanics, and UI, rather than trying to (as an indie studio with a small budget) create a game with out-of-this-world graphics.

If Mass Effect had a baby and showed up on Maury, Omikron would be the father.

This game is tightly knitted with a story that has the capacity to grow into a very large and perverse world of backstabbery, blaming, love and discord. Unfortunately, this is only part one that is prefacing the anticipated sequel. The game only lasts about four hours (including the secondary objectives and some exploring), however, it is an amazing four hours and you will want more.

I'm about an hour into my first playthrough of the game - I hear a single playthrough is about two hours long. As soon as I'm done, I want to start the game again and try different things. This game is incredibly successful at engaging a lot more of my brain and 'gut feelings' than most. I'm not sure that I've ever played a game that gave the player such respect while also commanding so much responsibility.

Without revealing too much; you're thrown (somewhat 'naked') into a key role during a specific series of events. Your decisions and actions can sway how events unfold and also how the game is to be played. In most games, if you stray too far from what they want to show you, the game tugs harshly at your leash or essentially shuts down and waits for you to come back. Not so, here! As far as I can tell, the only time you're really yanked out of the proceedings is if your character dies. Then, you can load up an auto-save from earlier and try something else. That's only happened to me once so far. Basically, if you bumble, the game unfolds in a logical way as it would if someone in your position bumbled in an actual situation like this, if that makes sense.

What kind of a game is it? Well, it's a shooter if you want it to be...I guess. It's a missile defense game sometimes. It's a 'cool special agent on a plane' social simulator. It's an alternate future reality quantum leap homage thingiemadoop.

You will be thrown into this game head first.You will not know what you are doing.You will not know who you are.Your crew will not explain jack to you as you already 'know' what you need to.You will flouder and wander about.You will make seemingly pointless choices.

And you will find that all of that has lead to something you didn't expect.

You will tear you hair out and you will scratch your now-bald head in confusion and you will scream as you try to decipher the barrage of info thrown at you.

Holy wow, I had only just heard of this game a few weeks before the December 2014 Steam Holiday Sale, so I didn't have a lot of expectations going in. However, even if I'd set my expectations sky high, I don't think this game would have disappointed me.

First off, the game is rather pretty; the cel shaded graphics will likely help the game retain playability for a long time, so if you don't have the money to spend now, you can always wait for the next sale. Bonus: The developers have said there will be future episodes of Consortium that build upon the events of this game, so waiting for that may be in your best interest if you're a binge gamer.

As for the story, it feels pretty natural. If you're unfamiliar, the game puts you in the body of a person in the future. The game itself pretends that this is actually happening, so when you have to pretend you know what is going on, it feels legitimate. However, that also means that on future playthroughs, you can react to situations differently as you are more familiar with the game's lore. The game is built with this concept in mind, which makes it extremely replayable. On that note, I recommend playing the game through, living with each decision you make, rather than reloading to see how consequences change. In the amount of time I spent watching the loading screen, I probably could have played the game through at least one or possibly two more times.

The situtations the game puts you in have the feel of action-packed, suspensful movie scenes, and the game does a darned good job making you feel as if you were really in the thick of things. Also, since you're not the captain, you're not always the center of attention. In my opinion, this feeling adds another layer of deptht to the game as it made me feel more like a part of the crew, as opposed to having me order people around, Kirk-style.

I can't speak much for the combat because the game gives you the options to not have to fight, except for one "air combat" mission. The controls in general felt solid. There's nothing that felt innovative here, but nothing that felt broken.

The only time the game didn't feel smooth were when I accidentally triggered an event that moved the story forward before I meant to. This is a chronic issue I have in games and may speak more about me than it does about the game.

Bottom Line/TL;DR: If you want to feel like you're actually in a futuristic crew on a ship flying around on missions, then this game is likely to be right up your alley. The conversation choices and reactions to actions you take feel natural and make you feel like you really are hijacking the body of someone in the future.

Today, I’m talking about a little first-person action-adventure game called CONSORTIUM. Developed and self-published by Interdimensional Games, Inc. The games development had its start in a successful Kickstarter campaign, which leads us to what we have today. CONSORTIUM’s story starts off with you, the player, travelling forward through time, and to a parallel universe, thanks to a satellite that allows us to connect to a sentient A.I. that exists in the other universe. In this future universe, it seems that everything is just about perfect. Global hunger, energy, and poverty problems has been resolved for the most part, and all forms of war have almost completely ceased. We have people living in space, on the moon, on Mars, you name it. But can things ever really be perfect?

Consortium1You take the role of someone named Bishop Six, a field agent and peacekeeper of sorts in the Consortium, a society dedicated to protecting the galaxy or something. But all is not well, as soon after you arrive on your ship, the Zenlil, one of your shipmates is found dead in their bunkroom. Believing them to have been murdered by another shipmate, you are commanded to begin interrogating your shipmates to find out who the traitor is. If that weren’t enough, you also have the problem of a band of outlaws currently looking to take down your ship. It’s up to you to solve the mystery behind the murder, and take down the outlaws, among other things. But you better watch out, nobody can know where you’re really from, otherwise you might end up causing a temporal breakdown and destroy the universe!

So, let me tell you right now: Gameplay is where this game really shines. CONSORTIUM really isn’t an action game, so much as it is an immersive story told through its great character dialogue, its mysteries, and the in-game lore that comes with it. You communicate to the other characters on the ship through simple button presses, similar to a Telltale game. Alternatively, you can choose to say nothing and make everything awkward with your constant silence. Like I said before, one of the major goals is trying to find out who the murderer on your ship is, but naturally, things can never just be that simple. News gets spread fast on Zenlil, and before you know it, everybody on the ship knows what has happened, which naturally freaks them out. As you question and get to know your shipmates, you find that quite a few of them are less trustworthy than they appear, and others seem way too nervous or in some cases, optimistic about the whole situation. But, for those of you out there who decide that there isn’t enough shooting involved, there ARE action segments included with the game. Depending on how you choose to interact with other characters, you will be forced to engage in combat with bloodthirsty mercenaries who invade your ship, or shoot down enemy spaceships. You are also given the choice of capturing, or outright killing their leader. Just remember: Gameplay, as well as the story itself, might turn out differently depending on what you’ve chosen to do or not do.Consortium3

Everything looks decent in terms of graphics, but the game was built on the constantly aging Source Engine, so you probably shouldn’t expect anything too fancy. Because it IS Source though, you can be almost certain that CONSORTIUM will run on even the lowest-end of gaming PCs. The sound effects are pretty good too, really helping encapsulate that claustrophobic feeling of being on a small little spaceship. The music is absolutely fantastic, but what do you expect when it’s composed by none other than Jeremy Soule, the same guy who did the music for such great games as Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Knights of the Old Republic? The developers really use the music to their advantage here when it comes to telling the story, and really puts an emphasis on the importance of what’s going on around you.

If there was one major flaw I could point out about this game, it’s that it was too short for my tastes. If you want a short, but good little immersive plot-central game, I recommend you try out CONSORTIUM. It’s currently on sale on Steam for $19.99.

What impressed me most about this game is that you are able to talk your way through almost every conflict. I have to admire the devs for letting you all but completely ignore the shooting element of their FPS in favor of being a silver tongued devil. You are perfectly capable of shooting your way through the game as well, and both are viable ways to solve problems.

To complement all of this is a large cast of complex characters. I found myself reloading saves just because I was interested in exploring more dialogue options. The world of Consortium feels very alive and complex, hell, there's an in-game database that has an absolutely vast amount of backstory and supplementary material that you could spend a day reading.

If you've played the Mass Effect games, there's a strong chance you'll enjoy this game. Buy Consortium not because you want another FPS, but because you want to explore a story and the whole universe it takes place in.

+The main selling point of this game is that the choices you make affect the story in multiple ways. These choices have a significant impact in how things play out and what scenarios you are put in. Something that is very lacking in today's modern games. Too many games claim to give you freedom of choice however many of these games lead you to the exact same place/story segment and it feels cheap. Consortium however is different, decisions you make in the beginning of the game can adversely affect you later on without you knowing it. I have played through this game a few times now and I am very impressed with the degree of how the decisions you make have a major impact on what goes on.

+ Its one thing to have choices, but if the scenarios are boring the game wouldn't be interesting. Consortium does a great job of putting you in some really great situations. These situations will really make you think and the outcomes are not always so obvious.

+ The developers really wanted to explain everything in the game. The game features an in-game console that explains a lot of the history /characters/story to really immerse you in the game. In addition all the characters seem to act realistically given their surroundings. It wasn't until I went online and read what other people were seeing that it made me go back into the game to see how much attention to detail the developers put into such a small game. +Good replay value, play the game again and choose different options, speak to people differently and see what happens!

+ Good voice acting

+ I was very surprised by how good the music is.

+ Included is a virtual reality mini game, it is completely optional and provides a nice change of pace to a game that is mostly about talking to people.

The Average:

The developers included partial controller support, sadly the controller doesn't seem to work in menus/inventory making controller support rather useless. You are given two choices of button layouts, you cannot remap any buttons for the controller. Just stick with keyboard/mouse.

The art style is rather ugly. It just doesn't look right, the game isn't very impressive technically either. I understand this is an independent developer and they don't have a big budget but that doesn't really excuse them for choosing such a poor art style.

User interface looks cheap.

Most of the back story is hidden behind information console.

Somewhat short if you don't bother to read anything in the information console.

The Bad

In a game that is all about making choices and replaying the game to see how things play out differently, it would be nice to skip dialogue. Having to listen to the same things over and over again is awful.

ConclusionI really want the is game to do well because the game has some really good design decision wrapped up in a poor looking presentation.

How to review a game like Consortium that is packd with so many great ideas? Well first off I will say that I really enjoyed the play throughs I have made so far.

Consortium puts you - Quantum Leap style - in the body of an operative called Bishop-6 onboard a high tech aircraft flying to Dublin. The entire game takes place during the flight and can play out differently every time depending on your actions. There are no right or wrong actions, just different versions of reality. You are confronted with a number of plots to solve - or ignore - which I won't spoiler. What I will say is that they are excellent, and enjoyable.

Consortium is an excellent example of the "One Block RPG" where everything takes place in a small area with well developed characters but within that scope the player has great freedom. Consortium benefits from many play throughs as you explore diferent possibilities and in fact the game makes a virtue of this and saves them as detailed versions for you to look back on.

Oh did I mention it has a soundtrack by Jeremy Soule?

The game had a rough launch - the team who developed it are very small - but they stuck with ut and turned it into a gem that should not be missed.

If you like good, thoughtful RPGs: buy it. If you love interesting sci-fi setups: buy it. If you like good writing: buy it, If you like soundtracks by Jeremy Soule: buy it.

Immersive and intriguing story with some fps action thrown in too. I'm on my second play through and depending on what you do and say you will discover new information in the story. First play through is a little scary at times too which is good.

Consortium is the kind of game with huge replay value, and the layers of sub-plots and mystery kept me hooked throughout the playthrough, so much so that as soon as I finished my first time round, I immediately created a new save to uncover everything I missed. There's enough exposition to allow you to understand the ship and the world's current situation, but there remains the uneasy feeling that, being a traveller from another dimension, you really are out of your depth, and learning more is key to getting a grip on what's going on.

The voice acting is very good, and the usual tropes are avoided in the cast of well-rounded, interesting characters. A special mention must also be given to the soundtrack, which heightens tension in all the right places. "Almost as good as Morrowind's OST," I mused, before I closed the game and discovered it was Jeremy Soule himself who composed Consortium's score. Excellent selection, developers; I'll be buying the soundtrack shortly!

The gunplay, admittedly, feels a little janky, and the inventory menu was confusing in my opinion. This gave me the incentive to avoid fights and settle problems using diplomacy and cunning - I think this ended up being the better choice, but if combat is mandatory in the second game as I reckon it will be, I hope the HUD improves. However, it wasn't a major concern for me.

All in all, I'm really looking forward to the next installment of this. The developers of this game have created something brilliant - I hate to make comparisons, but I can't help but draw a parallel between this and the story-driven TellTalle games of recent years. If you like those, you will LOVE Consortium.

i was unsure whether to click the thumbs up or down button. in the end i don't think it's worth paying money.

tl;dr version:great game mechanics, setting and the story don't make up for the 15 minutes gamelay. it was a big disappointement for me

the actual review:don't get me wrong, it's not all that terrible. it's kind of a fun game with interesting dialogues and some minor combat but after finishing the game it feels like i've been playing tutorial all along and the game should come now. instead, the ending creding credits roll in.

there has been so much effort put into character development and combat/inventory mechanics that there is actually no game at all. where is the actual level design? there is a small plot twist in this futuristic plane with a great story setting but you end up walking down a few halls a couple of minutes while investigating this twist and that's it. the game ends.

it's like watching one of those short 15 minutes hitchcock stories. great indeed but is this really it? so much of effort of hud and game develpment for just this? sure there is some fighting simulation game (to which you don't even necessarily have to get the chance to play by the way) but that doesn't give you any satisafaction of using the action mechanics.

all in all, it was a disappointedment for me. with such a great potential i expected more just a big tutorial. and no, encouraging the players to "TRY TO FINISH GAME IN DIFFERENT WAYS, LIKE TALK TO DIFFERENT PEOPLE AND SUCH" is definitely not a satisfying fulfillment of what expectancies have these great mechanics built-in inside us.

definitely would not recommend buying. maybe get it for free/humble bundle from somewhere or something

This is a fantastic game. It isn't ruined by poor interaction, bugs or bad gameplay and the likes. It's ruined by the fact that this whole thing is gaming blue balls; a shareware demo; a teaser. There is a plethora of fantastic game content that you ultimately don't get to play with. The combat/inventory system is barely utilized outwith the VR trainer sim. The story is a gigantic cliff-hanger. You're encouraged to use quicksaves to explore alternate dialogue options, but they will only leave you with more questions. Very few will provide the answers you crave more and more as you explore further. The game literally ends when you jump out the back of the futuristic jumbo-jet you start the game in - imagine if the whole of Mass Effect was set on the Normandy and that's about what this title is. If you explore the dialogue and lore (of which there is a near-overwhelming amount of), you'll get some good hours from this game. However, this release is basically a glorified "Murder on the Orient Express" game - or the first half of one anyway. You're going to have to wait a whole lot longer for any closure, and, of course, put down some more cash. A wholly unfulfilling and, in the end, frustrating experience.

Magnificent game. Great non-linear story-telling in a small but dynamic world.Engaging characters, clever interactions, optional combat (depending on your decisions). Meant to be played multiple times as there's many different threads to follow.

The graphics are very basic but they are enough for the purpose they need to fullfill. The quality of the writing and the thought that went into building such a world beats most recent major AA releases by miles.It's also a game where you're truly "role playing", you're not just moving some predefined character. You have no voice, no name, no history. And it works perfectly (as opposed to the amnesia every second video game hero seems to have) the way it's setup.

The core of this game are the dialogues and characters, so if you're looking for that it's more than 100% worth the price.

Stunning RPG with advanced character interaction in a very wide-reaching and immersive ARG universe. Beautiful gameplay concepts, even if combat and inventory were handled a little oddly.Recommend highly to RPG/Story gamers.Do not recommend to action/combat gamers.

This game does something no other game has ever done, and does it well - presents a real time story that is highly scripted but nonetheless different every time you play. It's like a choose your own adventure in some ways, but the story proceeds without you no matter what you do - it's up to you how involved you get, and in what way. It's also got this great meta-narrative, where making decisions based on knowledge from previous playthroughs is a valid and fully supported path. The settings is unique, rich, and thought-provoking, and everything that could be odd or jarring about the meta-stuff is handled really well.

As far as the gamey stuff goes, the voice acting is good, and the interface is decent, but for the combat you pretty much just get through it. That's not really a problem, though since there's not much of it.

The game "ends" abruptly, although this is a game meant to be replayed. However, it also demands a sequel, due to the unresolved cliffhanger. Let's hope that happens.

It's an interesting idea for a game... mixing genres like adventure games, cRPGs and shooters together. It's fun and fairly engaging for a while. The problem however with it (aside from not that great usage of Source Engine and terrible optimization), is that the story develops waaay to slow and there is not enough depth in dialogue choices, to make it worthwhile. It's still a decent game to grab on a sale. For a full price however - I'd say no.

Although the graphics can be a bit rough the freedom and depth of choices are staggering. You can play this as an FPS, you can play this as a point-and-click, you can play this as a complete brain dead tool and still make it to the ending and experience very different dialogue and choices along the way,..